Internal-combustion engine.



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in the county of New Haven and `ters APatent granted engine, so that, when' the SIMON LAKE, OF MILFORD, CONNECTICUT.

INTERNALCOMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug'.- 20, 1918.

Application filed November 20, 1915. Serial No. 3.2.549.

1 u at@ 'who/a it muy mit-era Be it known that l. Sinon Lann, a citizen ot' the United States, residing at Milford, State of Connecticut, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, otl which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certairg improvements in internal combustion engines of the heavy oil type, and particularlyfl to that class of engines shown and described in Letto lne July 15, 1913, No. 1,067,258, and my cro-.pending application, tiled May lti, 1914, Serial No. 839,158.

The object ot' the invent-ion is to provide means within the combustion. chambers ot the cylinders of internal combustion engines for raising the temperature within the cornliustion chamber prior to the starting of the tirst charge of fuel isinjected into the combustion chamber, it will be. instantly ignited `and burned, means being carried by the power piston for breaking up, and for distributing and directing the `fuel against the heating means, so as to insure the ignition oi the fuel as it is injeet ed into the combustion chamber at more than one pointtherein, and consequently eii'ect the complete burning of the entire charge of the the operation of the engine. A further object of the invention is to provide means for heating the charge ot fuel prior to its injection into Athe combustion chamber.

The' invention` consists in arranging an annulus, plate, or wire,vof high resistance 'i1'1`aterial,` `xsuch as nichrome, for instance), Wit 1in the upper' end of the. eoinbustion chamber, and in connecting the said annulus, plate', or wire, with the positive, and negative terminals oi suitable sourceif` electric energy of sufficient. capacity to sup'- ply the necessary current for making 'the -re- 'sistance material iridescent or incandescent, vvhen the Said resistancen'iaterial is nergized prior tothe starting of the engine, V"the col'nbustion chamber will be heated suicientlylto ignite` and burn theifilel the iinfuel, thereby economizing in rangement. being such that a plurality .of

llotpoints or surfaces are provided within they cunibustion chamber. Thc.invention further consists in the provision .of means carried by the power piston for distributing and spraying the fue] against the. hot points of the annulus, plate, or wire. so that, the t'uel will be ignited at a plurality ot points within the .'onibustion chamber, thus not only insuring ignition of the fuel, but the conse-quent con'iplete burning thereof as it is injected into the combustion chamber. The invention still further consists in arranging a control in the source of electric energy, so that, after the annulus, plate, orvwire, has become irideseentfromthe heat generated bythe explosions and burning of the fuel, the current may be reduced or completely cut oft, and economy thus effected inthe op- Y eration of the engine, it being understood, that the annulus, plate, or wire, of high resistance matt-iria] will `absorb `the heat generated u the combustion chamber sufficiently to ignite the fuel as it is injected into the engine and comes into contact with the high resistance material.

These and other features germane thereto constitute the. invention als will be hereinafter fully described and then claimed.

1 ln the drawings, illust-rating the. invem tion, in the several figures ofwhich like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the upper end of the povver cylinder of an internal combustion erigme, the piston being shown in elevation. lug. 2 1s a horizontal section of the same drawn on the line a-a of Fig.' 1, looking inthe direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the upper fend of the power piston illustrating the action of the. fue] distributer carried by `the piston', and the manner in which the fuel is directed aga-inst the flangedringfin vthe cylindc Fig. 4 is a plan vlew of thgcentral portion of the' upper. end or of the piston. Fig, 5 is a partly section-al side, view illustrating a slightly modified construction. Fig. 6 is a vertical-lf section drawn4 throu h the central portion of the head of the cyinder, .illustratingv a slightly different arrangement of heating the fuel injector. Figs. 7 and 8 are horizontal sections also drawn on the line a-a of Fig. l, illustrating a different arrangement of the high resistance material arranged in the combustion chamber of the cylinder. Fig. 9 is a vertical section di'aivn through the upper end of the cylinder illustrating still another arrangement for heating the fuel before it is injected into the coni-A bustion chamber of the engine, and a further construction of the annulus of high resistance material arranged Within the coinbustion chanrber of the engine,

1 designates the power cylinder provided,

` as shown, with a Water-jacket 2. The head 3 of the cylinder is also formed With a Water-j acket el, and with a central, upwardly extending collar 5 in which is mounted the fuel injector (l, substantially of the construction shown in my co-pending application, filed March 7, 1914, Serial No. 823,172, but 'which may be of any approved construe tion. As I do not make special claim to the specific construction of the injector, I do not think it necessary to illustrate the same in this application. TheI injector is surrounded by ay suitable insulating sleeve 7, and surrounding the sleeve 7 is a sleeve 7 of high resistance .ii'ia-terial, which in turn is surrounded by a sleeve 8. The sleeve 7 is formed or connected with terminals 7 which are insulated lroni the collar 5, as shown. As'slioivn, the upper end of the colla-r is formed with short slots to receive the insulating termfnals 7 and their insulating covers to faci itat-e the. insertion and Withdrawal of the injector audits surrounding members respectively into and from the bore of the collar 5.

The head of the cylinder is also provided with diametrioally oppositely disposed bores 3', in which are held plugs 9 of porcelain or other suitable insulating material capable of withstanding high pressures and high heat. and extending through the plugs 9 are stud bolts 10, (shown in Figs. 1, 2,"and 9), to the inner ends of which is connected a flanged ring 11 of nichroine, or other suitable high resistance materia-l, the ver-tical and horizontal iangcsot' the ring 11 being provided with a plurality of apertures 12 to provide a series ofliot points for igiiitiiig the fuel at a number of points around the combustion chamber of the cylinder. To the upper ends of the stud bolts are connected terminals 13 to which 'are connected conduct ing Wires 1-1, extending from any suitable source of electric power of proper capacity for supplying the necessary current to render the ring incandescent, it rbeing understood, that one of the stud bolts 10 is con- Y.

Inter-posed in one of the ivires is a rheostat l5, so that the current passing through the ring may be regulated and cut down, or completely cut out, after the ring has become iridesceiit'o'r incondeseent through the heat ci the explosions and the burning of the fuel Within the combustion chamber. It will be appreciated that after a number of explosions Within the combustion chamber, the heat from the burning of the fuel will convey sulicient heat to the ring to keep it sulliciently hot to ignite the vfuel as it is sprayed into the combustion chamber.

The terminals 7 of the split sleeve 7 are connected by branch Wires (Fig. 1) extending respectively from the positive and negative terminals 13, so that, as the current passes through the ring 11 of high resistance material, the sleeve 7 Will also be heated to thus heat the barrel of the fuel injector 6, and consequently, the fuel as it4 also provided with a conical .extensionO` (Fig. 3), the apex of which isarranged centrally of the openinglS, so that, ,as-the fuel is forced out through the injector, it Will strike the apex of the cone 20' and be directedoiitwardly through the slots 19 of the extension 17 iii radial directions against the Afianged ring 11, and into Contact with the hot points thereof.

The pist-on 16 is provided With the usual i connecting rod,v which is connected to theci-anli shaft (not shown) of the engine, but

as such details will. be of the usual construc-v tion, and Will be 'obvious to those-skilled v ,in the art to which the invention relates,

I have not ihought it :necessary to showl the base and crank shaft of the engine, nor the connection of the connecting rod to the crank shaft, nor have Iltliought itlnecessary ti illustrate or describe thenieans for furnishing Water to the Water-jacket of the cylinder. l

In Fig. 6, I'shoiv a slightly different arrangement of heat-ing the barrel of the fuel injector 6 from' that illustrated in Figs. 1-

and 2 of the drawings. In this construction i lI provide a split band 80 of high resistance vmaterial, which is formed v vith a series of 1,27e,oss al slots opening alternately through the upper and lower ends thereof, whereby to provide a coil, as it were, the upper and lower ends ot' the band being held -in ringsl '80? of porcelain, or other suitable insulating material, so that an air chamber is provided around the barrel of the injector 6. The opposite arms or ends of the band are forn'led with terminals 81, which extend through slots 82 formed in the upper end of the collar 5. and are surrounded by sleeves of insulating material as shown. 4

As shown in Fig. 7, the stud bolts l() are connected by a plate 111, which extends across` the` combustion chamber of the cylinder 1, and is provided with a central open ingr 112 arranged in alinement with the outlet. of the fuel injector (i, and with a plurality of openings 113 providing a series of hot points for igniting the fuel as it is sprayed into the combustion chamber.

In Fig. 8, I illustrate a st ill flu-ther modi fica-tion of heating the combustion chamber and for igniting the fuel as it is injected iu'to the. engine.4 In this construction, l purpose connecting the stud-bolts 10 by a wire ring 114 haring lateral extensions 115, which are arranged over the inner ends of the stud bolts, the entensions 115 being held in place by washers 116 and nuts 117 threaded upon the lower ends of the bolts.

In Fig. 9, I illustrate a still further construction of the ring Yor annulus. In this arrangement, it will be seen the ring or anuulus 1'1 is formed substantially Ushape in cross-section. Also, in this construction, I surround the barrel of the injector G with an insulating sleeve 90 of suitable material, and I extend branch wires 91 from the positive and nega-tive terminals 13, and connect the said wires 91 to the oil and air inlet lpipes of the fuel. injector G at suitable points from the latter so as to heat the said pipes and consequently1 the oil and the air as the latter pass to the injector. In this construction, I rely upon the heat of the combustion chamber for heating the inner end of the fuel injector sufficiently to heat the barrel thereof, and the fuel, as it passes throughv theubairrel. j

In operation, current ofv roper capacity is supplied to the. heating e ement to make it'iridescent or incalulescent, so that, when the. fuel 1s injected into the combustion chamber` it will 'be sprayed in radial directions, and forced against the hot points of the heat-ing element, and thus instantly ignited and burned, it being understood, of course, thatthe gearing of the engine will be regulated so thatthe fuel will be injected .into tlie combustion chamber when the power piston 16 is at or near the end of its return stroke, the time of Vinjecting the fuel into the engine beingegulated by the grade of' fuel oil used. After the combustion charnber hasbecome thoroughly heated, through the heat generated by the burning of the fuel, and when the heating element has bev come iridescent, the supply of current furnished to the heating element may then. be out down, or reduced, since a smaller amount of current would naturally be required to keep the heating element iridescent, owing to the fact that the same will absorb heat from the heat generated within the combustion chamber, and as the heat increases in the combustion chamber, the current may be entirely cut out, thus not only reducing the cost of operating the engine, but consequently increasing the efliciency of the engine, since the power required for gen erating the electric current, or for restoring the current in the event of the latter being supplied through storage batteries, is thus' eliminated.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I v provide an exceedingly simple and efficient device, which will not only avoid the use of sparking-plugs in light or heavy oil engines, but also a construction in which a plurality of hot points or igniting points are arranged entirely around the combustion chamber of the engine which will insure instant ignition and complete burning of the fuel throughout the entire. space of the combustion chamber.

Thile I have shown the extension 17 and the 4cone 20 formed integral with the head of the power cylinder, it will be understood that the extension and the said cone may 100 be formed of separate pieces having a flanged base 27 whieh'may be set into a recess formed in the top of the power cylin? der, as shown in Fig. 5, or bolted direct upon the top of the piston. i'

I desire it understood, that while I pre fer to employ a flanged ring in the colnbustion chamber to supply the necessary heating element, it will be'appreciated that various modifications, such as is shown in 11o Figs. 7 and 8, may be employed to equal adifantage Without departing from the spiritor scope of the invention, and'` If therefore, do not want to' be limited to the employment of the flanged ring or annulus, since the 115 broad idea is to provide sufficient heatlsurfaces within the combustion chamber to raise the temperature of compression therein, combined with a series of hot points which will. insure the ignition of the fuel as it is 120 injected into the combustion chamber, the arrangementbeing such that the fuel is ignited at a plurality of points instead of only one point, as with the use of sparkingplugs gnes.

I "l'and, interposed "and thedisqribur..

an internal combustion engine, a 1 'powexjg cylinder having an axial opening-dis- Lirama,

therewith" ad .electrically .heated niter hav-ing a between the .fuel .injector head,y aV `power piston 1n sald 'cylnde'fa fuel in'ector disposed the axial opening; a fuel" ietributer arranged saidfaxial epening and in lnetherewith plurality ofV igm'ting points*l below` en the piston head, and an electrically heated igniter provided with a plurality of lgniting pointsfand iterposedfbetween the distrib heinjector. y f.

whereof 1 have hereunto set fis (29th"'day1 ofOctober, A.' D.

SIMON LAKE. 

